FPJ-Legarda: ones
to beat in 2004

ALTHOUGH the official announcement has been delayed until the first week of November, it now seems likely that veteran actor Fernando Poe Jr. will run for president in 2004 under the opposition banner, with Senator Loren Legarda-Leviste as his running-mate. This must be giving President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her various flaks sleepless nights in Malacañang Palace.

Like his good friend former President Joseph Estrada, FPJ is recognized nationwide by both rich and poor Filipinos for the many movies he has churned out over the past few decades. But, unlike Estrada, Arroyo, Senator Panfilo Lacson and nearly every other politician thinking of running in 2004, FPJ comes with a clean slate, free of controversy and of any known corruption. That he seems genuinely concerned with the plight of the Filipino masses, is only a plus point when it comes to the election.

Already, pro-administration politicians are attacking Poe's imminent entry into the presidential fray, with Senator Raul Roco, himself a presidential candidate in 2004, warning that the Filipinos have already learned their lesson when it comes to electing a movie star to the presidency, an obvious reference to Estrada. Housing Secretary Michael Defensor, who is on President Macapagal-Arroyo's election campaign team, said that if FPJ ran it would seem like he was doing so to seek revenge for his old friend Estrada.

I know that it has become fashionable in the Philippines to make fun of actors entering politics, but I think if FPJ surrounds himself with good advisors, perhaps he could be a good president for all Filipinos. Like voters in California, who overwhelmingly voted for Gov. Gray Davis' recall and put actor Arnold Schwarzenegger into the governor's mansion, Filipino voters have also become sick of corrupt politicians who promise them the world but who perform badly.

Even the Left has decided to give FPJ the benefit of the doubt, with Bayan Muna Representative Crispin Beltran saying he saw nothing wrong with Poe running for president, and that he appreciated the many nationalistic roles Poe had played in several films.

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SUPREME COURT Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. could soon find himself in an impeachment trial before the Senate court if a complaint filed against him, and already signed by 70 congressmen, prospers.

Only six more signatures are needed on the complaint for it to be automatically transmitted to the Senate for action. The 16-page complaint, which will be filed by Camarines Sur Rep. Felix William Fuentebella and Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro, charges Davide with improper use of the three-billion-peso Judiciary Development Fund (JDF). Traditionally, the JDF has been mostly used to pay members and personnel of the judiciary with an additional cost of living allowance.

Around 25,000 court employees are the main beneficiaries of a JDF allowance that makes up a significant portion of their pay packets. But by the end of 2002, more than 500 million pesos required by law to be paid as additional cost of allowance had not been paid.

Where has the money gone? According to the complaint, Davide has diverted JDF funds to pay for luxury cars worth nearly 31 million pesos for members of the Supreme Court; 5 million pesos to buy curtains for the court, and 8.1 million pesos for furniture at the court. More worryingly, the report claims that "more than 34 million pesos out of the JDF fund was also spent for the construction of vacation homes in Baguio City for the use of high tribunal justices, their families and chosen friends."

In addition to this, 64 million pesos in JDF funds were used to renovate the SC session hall; 99.8 million pesos for the construction of the SC-CA Multi-Purpose Building, and 5 million pesos in subsidy for the Court of Appeals printing press.

Earlier this year, Davide had refused to appear before the House committee on justice to answer questions about how the JDF was being used, claiming the separation of powers doctrine meant that he couldn't be questioned by the legislature.

Already, the Arroyo administration and its allies in Congress are scrambling to get this latest complaint squashed, claiming it is part of destabilization plan by the opposition which is bent on revenge for Davide's pivotal role in lending legitimacy to Arroyo's takeover of the presidency during EDSA Dos in January 2001.

I hope the complaint against Davide prospers. The Arroyo administration has made a mockery of justice by selectively applying the law when it suits it, and ignoring it when one of its members is threatened.

What happened to Senator Lacson's charges of corruption against first gentleman Mike Arroyo and President Arroyo herself? Despite presenting original documents and deposit slips showing millions of pesos diverted by the first couple, all of the president's allies have ignored the accusations, refusing to even look into them. Is that justice?

* * *

US president George W. Bush's whirlwind visit to the Philippines last Saturday has been called a success.

After all, he was able to make the long journey from Malacañang Palace to Congress in Batasan Hills, Quezon City, without a hitch. No eggs were thrown at his motorcade, and protestors were kept well away from his route.

Unfortunately, during his speech to the joint session of both houses of the Philippine Congress, Bush made the analogy of democracy flourishing in US-occupied Iraq just as it had nearly 60 years ago in the
Philippines.

While Bush noted that the Philippines had lived under 300 years of Spanish rule, he failed to note that the US had also ruled the Philippines, often brutally, for 48 years from 1898 until 1946. This glaring omission was noticed by many, who wondered whether Bush was hinting that the US occupation of Iraq would also require 48 years of American dominance before the Iraqis were trusted enough to run their own country.

Writing in the online magazine Slate, Fred Kaplan in his article entitled "From Baghdad to Manila: Another Lousy Analogy for the Occupation of Iraq", this week notes that the US Army lost 4, 234 soldiers in subduing Filipino guerillas from 1898 to July 1902.

Another 2,818 American soldiers were wounded, and 69,000 Filipino combatants killed and 200,000 civilian Filipinos killed.

"The American war effort was marked by much burning, pillaging, and torturing, and the commanders finally achieved victory through a strategy of isolating the guerillas," writes Kaplan.

"Even so, sporadic uprisings continued long after 1902. The American military occupation was forced to remain for 44 years. Surely Bush is not suggesting that victory in Iraq requires a similar strategy or timetable."

Comments or questions? E-mail the author at: manilamoods@hotmail.com. Visit the author's website at www.manilamoods.com to read past columns.